the scene in which Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren)
- embattled and despised by the British public for her family's silence
in the week between former Princess of Wales Diana's (played by Herself
in archival footage) death and funeral - drove into the country and
wept after her Land Rover stalled in a stream, and she was stranded
in the wild; and then she encountered by chance a large "14
pointer" stag
on the Balmoral estate - she shooed it away to safety when hunters
approached: ("Oh, you're a beauty. Shoo! Shoo! Go on! Go on.
Go on!")

the upsetting
symbolic scene in which she later visited the stag in a bleeding
room - it had been killed and beheaded by a paying guest/hunter,
an investment banker from London on a neighboring estate - and
her statement: "I
hope he didn't suffer too much"

the tearjerking scene in which the Queen,
forced to have a royal funeral for Diana, perused the thousands of
bouquets left for "the people's princess" in front of Buckingham
Palace's gates - and saw such bitter, callous sentiments directed
toward Diana such as: "You
Were Too Good For Them," "We Love You," "They Don't Deserve
You," "We Will Miss You Princess Diana," and "Your
blood is on their hands" - but then, the
sweet moment of vindication when a little girl told the thankful
Queen that the bouquet she brought was for Her Royal Majesty: ("These
are for you") and not the Princess; and the
formal, respectful curtseys and head bows by the mourning crowds
as she passed them

the final closing shot as recently-appointed
Labour Party Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) and the Queen
walked through the Royal Gardens at Buckingham Palace and amiably
chatted - and opened up personally - about the issues of the day
and her position as Queen: ("One
in four, you said, wanted to get rid of me?...I've never been hated
like that before...Nowadays, people want glamour and tears, the
grand performance. I'm not very good at that. I never have been.
I prefer to keep my feelings to myself, and, foolishly, I believed
that was what the people wanted from their Queen - not to make
a fuss, nor wear one's heart on one's sleeve. Duty first, self
second. That's how I was brought up. That's all I've ever known....But
I can see that the world has changed, and one must modernize")

The Railway Children (1970,
UK)

#53

this nostalgic Victorian era
family drama by writer/director Lionel Jeffries (his directorial
debut film) - one of the best childrens'/family films ever
made (it was also filmed as a 1968 BBC serial)

the tearjerking,
emotionally heart-swelling ending when missing father
Charles Waterbury (Iain Cuthbertson) returned after being framed
and wrongly arrested for the crime of treason and sent away to
prison during Christmas. He was reunited at the train station
with his oldest daughter Roberta (or Bobbie) (Jenny Agutter), as
she ran along the platform and called out: ("Daddy! My Daddy!")

the image of touching their heads together:
(Charlie: "I
like having you for my brother." Raymond: "I'm an excellent
driver." Charlie: "Yes, you are. I like having you for my big
brother") and then the camera slowly zoomed in. Charlie turned away,
but then heard his brother spelling out his name twice: "C-H-A-R-L-I-E,"
followed by "Main man"

their parting after a
short discussion at the Amtrak train station, when Charlie handed
Raymond his pack: ("I guess I'd better give this to you. You're
gonna have to carry this now. It's got your cheeseballs, your apple
juice, notebooks, pens and 'Who's On First?' video that you
like"). Then they spoke briefly with a final goodbye once Ray was
on the train:Charlie: "Ray?"
Raymond: "Yeah."
Charlie: "I'll
see you soon."
Raymond:
"Yeah. One for bad, two for good."
Charlie: "Bet two
for good."
Raymond: "Yeah. Three minutes to Wapner."
Charlie:
"You'll make it."
Raymond: "Yeah."

Ran (1985, Jp./Fr.)

in Akira Kurosawa's nihilistic 'samurai' version
of Shakespeare's
King Lear, elderly, Japanese warlord father
Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) had just spoken to his
loyal and youngest son Saburo Naotora
Ichimonji (Daisuke Ryu), about how hopeful
he was of their newfound relationship as father and son -
now repaired: ("l have so much to say. When we're alone
and quiet, we wiIl talk, father to son. That's aIl I want. Nothing
else")

then, immediately afterwards, the senseless death
of Saburo as he rode on horseback and slipped off his horse to
the ground after being shot by a sniper, and the
scene of Lord Hidetora's extreme anguish and overwhelming grief,
so devastating that he perished and laid over his son's body

Lord Hidetora's servant Tango and Kyoami's (the
"Fool" or Royal Jester character) weeping over the two - including
Kyoami's cursing at God for allowing them to die: ("If you exist,
hear me. You are mischievous and cruel. Are you so bored up there,
you must crush us like ants? Is it such fun to see men weep?").
Tango told her to stop cursing: ("Enough! Do not bIaspheme! lt
is the gods who weep. They see us kilIing each other over and over
since time began. They can't save us from ourselves. Don't cry!
lt's how the worId is made. Men prefer sorrow over joy, suffering
over peace")

Random Harvest (1942)

the marriage proposal scene
between WWI-era amnesiac John Smith (or "Smithy") (Ronald
Colman) and music hall actress Paula Ridgeway (Greer Garson) during
a picnic in the countryside, as he told her: ("My life began
with you. I can't imagine a future without you...")

the
final revelatory scene about three years later at the countryside
cottage in which wealthy aristocrat Charles Rainier (also Ronald
Colman), who had lost all memory of his life with Paula, approached
their familiar-looking old cottage after going through the squeaky
gate and blossoming bough - he used a long-treasured key to open
the door. Behind him at the gate, his devoted and faithful secretary
Margaret Hansen/Paula (also Greer Garson) (with tear-stained cheeks)
softly called out to him: ("Smithy?
Oh, Smithy! Oh, darling"). He unraveled the clue and recognized
her voice - and remembered his former life being married to her -
he turned around, softly responded "Paula!" to
his long-lost love, and they came together to embrace and kiss as
the music built to a crescendo -- and a fade to black as the film
ended

the film's flashback to the summer of 1958 when
15 year-old virginal German schoolboy Michael Berg (David
Kross, and Ralph Fiennes as an adult) engaged in an erotic, passionate
and secret summer-time affair with beautiful, hard-working, uneducated,
repressed 36 year-old tram conductor Hanna Schmitz (Oscar-winning
Kate Winslet). They had sex on a regular basis, after which he
would read literature outloud to her: (The Odyssey, Huckleberry
Finn, The Lady with the Little Dog, War and Peace, and Lady Chatterley's Lover).
His life was forever changed by the relationship

as a law student
in 1966 in Heidelberg, he witnessed Hanna's Nazi war-crimes trial
for being an SS guard at a satellite of Auschwitz near Cracow during
the war. The trial revealed that Hanna had the weak and sickly women
also read to her outloud before they were sent to the gas chambers.
She admitted, falsely to the judge (to conceal her embarrassment
about being illiterate), that she had written the report about the
deaths of 300 trapped prisoners in a locked church fire. Unlike five
other female scapegoating defendants who were sentenced to a few
years in prison, she was sentenced to life imprisonment

in 1988
after almost twenty years in prison, Hanna was to be paroled in one
week, and Michael saw her during a poignant, painful prison visit
for the first time in decades during which there was no real physical
contact. He had been sending her audio cassette tape recordings of
his readings of her favorite books (and she had painstakingly taught
herself how to read and write), fulfilling his role as "The
Reader," without any other kind of correspondence or replies
to her letters. She told him: "You've grown up, kid."
He described how he had made arrangements for a job and apartment
for her after her release. He also revealed how his own brief marriage
hadn't lasted and then asked: "Have you spent a lot of time
thinking about the past?" - she asked: "You mean with you?" He
responded: "No, no, I didn't mean with me." She told
him about her thoughts of the past: "It doesn't matter what
I feel. It doesn't matter what I think. The dead are still dead."
He replied: "I wasn't sure what you'd learned." She responded: "Well,
I have learned, kid. I've learned to read."

when he returned
a week later to pick her up, he sadly learned that she had committed
suicide in her room - she had stacked up library books on a table
(including copies of War and Peace and The Odyssey)
before standing on them and hanging herself (off-screen). When he
visited her cell, he was told: "She didn't pack. She never intended
to leave." In her 'will,' she had written: "Tell Michael
I said hello," causing him to sob uncontrollably

in the film's
final scene in a steady rain, Michael took his grown-up daughter
Julia (Hannah Herzsprung) to visit Hanna's grave in a church graveyard
(where they had taken a bike ride when he was 15), as she asked:
("Who
was she?") The film ended with them walking slowly away from
the grave, with his voice-over: ("I was 15. I was coming home
from school. I was feeling ill. And a woman helped me")

the concluding tragic scene
in which panicky teen Plato (Sal Mineo), with an empty gun in his
hand, attempted to flee from the observatory ("Those are not my
friends, make them go away"), but was shot down by gunfire from
the police cordon. Anguished by the senseless killing and his
failure to avert violence with his utmost effort, Jim Stark (James
Dean) cried out: ("I got the bullets! Look!"). He kneeled and crawled
next to his friend's body, mourned the death of his surrogate 'son'
who was unable to reach the adult world, and asked: ("Hey
jerk-pot. What did ya do that for?")

the sad, tragic scene in this short 34-minute film
in which bullies with a slingshot popped and deflated young towheaded
schoolboy Pascal's (Pascal Lamorisse) beloved bright red balloon
to the ground

the very sweet, uplifting, magical surprise
ending in which Pascal discovered his resurrected red balloon accompanied
by thousands of other colored balloons from around Paris, that lifted
him up and carried him off on a ride to another world

The Red Shoes (1948, UK)

the melodramatic tragic death scene when young, red-headed
prima ballerina Victoria (Vicky) Page (Moira Shearer) fell to her
death just before an encore concert presentation of The Red Shoes ballet
- the controlling red shoes willfilly took her to a balcony overlook
and forcefully pulled her off (into the path of an oncoming train
on the tracks below), followed by a closeup of her bloody legs (and
tights) and feet wearing the shoes

her last request before dying was made to conductor-composer
husband Julian Craster (Marius Goring) - to remove her red ballet
shoes

the film's final images of the ballet -
performed as planned without her (with a spotlight shining on the
floor where she would have been dancing) and the announcement: "There
will be no performance of The Red Shoes tonight"

The Remains of the Day (1993,
UK)

#73

the scene in which rigidly polite,
reserved British butler James Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) presided over
an international dinner function, knowing his under-butler father
(Peter Vaughan) had passed away

the touching scene in which Stevens was reluctant
to reveal the book he was reading ("a sentimental old love story")
to housekeeper Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson), after she playfully asked:
("Are you reading a racy book?...What is it? Let me see it. Let me
see your book....Why won't you show me your book?...What's in that
book? Come on, let me see. Or are you protecting me? Is that what
you're doing? Would I be shocked? Would it ruin my character? Let
me see it"). He admitted embarrassingly: ("I read these books, any
books, to develop my command and knowledge of the English language.
I read to further my education, Miss Kenton")

the final farewell scene of urgent, but unfulfilled
and repressed longing and love between Miss Kenton (now
Mrs. Benn) and Stevens in a rainstorm - he wished her well in the future:
("You must take good care of yourself, Mrs. Benn...You must try to
do all you can to make these years happy ones for yourself and for
your husband. We may never meet again, Mrs. Benn. That is why I am
permitting myself to be so personal, if you will forgive me").
When she was about to depart on a bus, they shared a lingering handshake.
Stevens tipped his hat to her as the bus pulled away, and then finally
showed an outward emotion of regret when he let himself cry afterwards
in his car. The splattering raindrops on the windshield obscured
his own tears

The Road Home (1999, China) (aka
Wo de fu qin mu qin)

the brilliant sequences (flashbacking
to the past 40 years earlier) shot in vibrant color in this old-fashioned
love story with a grandiose score, about the legendary courtship of
a son's parents

the unique and legendary
'romantic love' courtship period when two young people fell in love
at first sight: young, bright red-jacketed, pig-tailed and infatuated
Di Zhao (Zhang Ziyi) and her future
husband Changyu Luo (Zheng Hao) - a teacher from the city who came
to her small rural village of Sanhetun in Northern China

the scenes of her painstakingly preparing a meal
dish for the working men building the schoolhouse - hoping that Luo
would choose her food

the scenes of Di's loss of a prized red/black/pink
hair barrette given to her by Luo (she told him: "I'll be waiting")

her long and urgent cross-country chase after her
beloved's horse-drawn cart when he abruptly left town and she tripped
and broke her meal dish (of mushroom dumplings) - and then heartbroken,
she cried piteously

the scenes of her
waiting in the bitter freezing cold for Luo's return - told in flashback:
(voice-over: "On the day my father promised to return, my mother
started waiting at dawn. She remembered his promise that he would
return on the 27th before the school holiday began on the 28th. He
had to be back before that"); and then waiting again for his return
for the last time, after becoming sick: (voice-over: "That evening,
my father had to leave again. He left the city without permission,
just to see my mother. He couldn't stand it when he heard about my
mother. So he sneaked back. For this disobedience, my parents were
kept apart for another two years. Someone told me that on the day
my father finally returned, my mother put on her red jacket, my father's
favourite, and stood by the road waiting for him. From that day on,
my father never left my mother again")

the memorable bloody death scene of rough
gangster Eddie Bartlett (James Cagney), shot in the back as he fled,
and dying on the snow-covered steps of a church, cradled lifelessly
in the arms of Panama Smith (Gladys George). She delivered his epitaph
- spoken to a curious cop:

Cop: Who is this guy?
Panama: This is Eddie Bartlett.
Cop: Well, how are you hooked up with him?
Panama: I could never figure it out.
Cop: What was his business?
Panama: He used to be a big shot.

RoboCop (1987)

the heart-breaking scene in
which RoboCop (Peter Weller) relived and recalled past events
from his life. RoboCop strolled through his former
home at 548 Primrose Lane (now up for sale after his wife and son
had moved away), with intermittent, ghost-like flash-backs of his
old life as Police Officer Alex Murphy. There were POV shots of his
son Jimmy (Jason Levine) watching TV, his discovery of a family photo
in the kitchen, and his pink-robed wife Ellen (Angie Bolling) in
the bedroom intimately telling him: ("I
really have to tell you something...I love you!"). As RoboCop
left the property, he punched the TV with a video-realtor
imploring: ("Hey, have you thought it all over? Why not make me
an offer?")

the climactic ending in which
boxer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), after "going the distance"
of 15 rounds with champ Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) (and losing in
a split decision), ignored interviewers and press crowding him in the
ring, and instead called out for Adrian (Talia Shire): ("Adrian!
ADRIAAAN!") Finally, after reaching her, he held and lovingly
embraced her with a mutual "I love you!" to
the sound of Bill Conti's triumphant score

the scenes surrounding the traumatic
death of Rocky's (Sylvester Stallone) long-time, loyal trainer Mickey
(Burgess Meredith) - during Rocky's defense of his title against
James "Clubber" Lang (Mr. 'T') in Philadelphia in 1981.
Even before the big contest, a name-calling brawl broke out between
the two opponents as they approached the ring. Mickey was shoved
aside by a charged-up and angry Lang and suffered a heart attack.
As ailing Mickey was cared for in the dressing room, he urged Rocky
to go out and fight: ("Take him, take him good. Get it over
with, why don't you?...Now get out there and do it")

in the championship match-up, Lang won with an upset
defeat of Rocky in the second round. Rocky returned to
the dressing room where Mickey was dying, and still awaiting an ambulance.
He told Mickey about the "knock-out" defeat
(misinterpreted by Mickey as a win for Rocky), to which the delirious
trainer replied: ("I love you, kid") - before expiring. Rocky
collapsed onto the chest of his long-time friend and deeply wailed
and mourned the loss: ("Mick, don't go away. We got more to do...').

the scene of a small memorial service at a mausoleum
was led by a Jewish rabbi (Gravemarker: In Loving Memory, Mickey
Goldmill, April 7, 1905-August 15, 1981)

the sad goodbye scene
between Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) and commoner newspaper reporter
Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) after they had spent a wonderful day together.
She gave Joe difficult-to-hear directions after he drove her to
the Embassy gate so she could return to her royal duties: ("I
have to leave you now. I'm going to that corner there and turn.
You must stay in the car and drive away. Promise not to watch me
go beyond the corner. Just drive away and leave me as I leave you...
I don't know how to say goodbye. I can't think of any words") -
Joe suggested: "Don't try" - and they sadly hugged and
kissed each other for the last time

the bittersweet scene of the
Princess' final press conference in which Princess Ann said farewell
to all the city's newspapermen - and to Joe - in the lineup. They
both had to pretend that they didn't know each other. She could
only be polite and impersonal: ("So happy Mr. Bradley")
and not reveal the secret of her day with him. During her final goodbye
to everyone, she slowly turned toward the audience, gave a wide smile
toward everyone (and then directly towards Joe), held the tear-inducing
gaze, and then departed.

after the press corps left, Joe stared
at the door through which she left, never to see her again - with
echoing footsteps, he slowly walked out of the room. The camera with
a backward-moving tracking shot followed his retreat from the girl
he had loved, as he turned one last time at the end of the hall to
sadly look back before leaving

Roma, Citta Aperta (1945, It.) (aka
Open City)

the shocking, realistic scene in which
pregnant widow Pina (Anna Magnani) ran after a military truck hysterically
screaming the name of her lithographer fiancee and underground leader
Francesco (Francesco Grandjacquet) who was being driven away, when
she was abruptly machine-gunned in the street and killed on her planned
wedding day. She was murdered in front of her ten year-old son Marcello
(Vito Annichiarico) and brave parish priest Don Pietro (Aldo Fabrizi),
who both rushed to her side

Franco Zeffirelli's beautiful version
of the classic Shakespearean "tale of two star-crossed lovers"

the classic double-suicide, Romeo's (Leonard
Whiting) poisoning and especially Juliet's (Olivia Hussey) "potion"
and "happy
dagger" scenes, when she realized that Romeo had died only a few
moments earlier: ("What's here? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless
end. (She tried to drink from the poison vial.) O churl! Drunk all,
and left no friendly drop to help me after! I will kiss thy lips. Haply
some poison yet doth hang on them to make me die with a restorative.
Thy lips are warm. Oh, no, no!"); and then Juliet's own death,
when Juliet picked up Romeo's dagger, stabbed herself in the chest,
and inevitably joined her love in marriage-death - she crumbled over
his body: ("O happy dagger! This is thy sheath. There rust and
let me die")

to the sound of tolling bells, the final somber epilogue
with the funeral procession of the corpses of the two dead teens,
who were carried up church steps to be laid in front of the Prince
who pronounced judgment on the two feuding families: ("Where be these
enemies? Capulet! Montague! See what a scourge is laid upon your
hate; That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love; And I,
for winking at your discords too, Have lost a brace of kinsmen; All
are punished. All are punished! (ECHO: punished!))"

the off-screen narration
of Laurence Olivier: ("A
glooming peace this morning with it brings. The sun for sorrow will
not show his head, For never was a story of more woe, Than this of
Juliet and her Romeo")

Rudy (1993)

#50

the climactic and inspirational scene
(based on a true story) in this sports drama in which underdog, small-framed
and big-hearted Daniel E. 'Rudy' Ruettiger (Sean Astin), with unwavering
determination, overcame unsurmountable odds

in the only play of his career (wearing jersey # 45),
which lasted just 27 seconds, he sacked the Georgia Tech quarterback
and thereby won the game for his team, and was victoriously carried
off the field on the shoulders of his Fighting Irish Notre Dame football
teammates in 1975 - fulfilling his dreams and having his family witness
his triumph

The Rules of the Game (1939, Fr.)
(aka La Regle du Jeu)

the famous scene of the shooting
party, featuring the graphic slaughter of a number of pheasants and
rabbits, with the disturbing shot of a rabbit in the last throes
of dying, clutching its fore-paws to its breast

the sweet, heart-breaking
scene in which upper-class heiress Christine de la Cheyniest (Nora
Gregor) admitted in a greenhouse that she loved her close friend -
the clownish, middle-aged, low-brow Mr. Octave (director Jean Renoir):

When Octave gave her a warm peck on the cheek, Christine protested:
("On
the mouth, like a lover"). Octave admitted his secret love (although
he knew that she was unsuited for him in terms of class), and they
kissed each other passionately, impulsively deciding to romantically
run off together (taking a 3 am train). This was an impossibility when
he was soon brought back to reality, but ended with a tragic misunderstanding
and "accident" nonetheless.